My Yield/Bukowski article

likepilateihaveadog

I wrote this for my college newspaper...we'll see how they edit it...here goes.



“In Hiding”
By Will Montgomery

Charles Bukowski wrote on a wide variety of subjects, but I’d thought I’d share his strategy of “leisure.” Essentially, Bukowski would go in hiding, locking himself in a dark room for three or four days at a time, only laying in bed. Well, he did allow himself small trips to the bathroom and small amounts of food, but nothing more. He didn’t write or talk or think more than necessary. It was a way to recharge his batteries, he wrote.
On the third or fourth day he would emerge, simply to take a walk outside. The sun and the sounds were the most glorious part of this birthing process, but, he wrote, “the first human face you see will set you back 50%.” That’s still not bad though, Bukowski argued, since most everyone else is perpetually running on empty.
The problem is that, even for bums like me, it’s hard to just disappear for three days at a time. And the general idea of not doing anything at all, not producing or contributing or thinking seems terrible to most of us. That’s why Bukowski called this first human face one “charged with capitalism, ‘the grind;’” that’s what wiped him out. Not just the face itself, but the inability to stop that was behind it.
I don’t really know what I’m doing in making this significant. It seems instinctual to take a break and take a breather, but the other part of our brain kicks in and says, “no, keep going.” And I’m not saying I work like a dog; I’m pretty lazy. But it’s not so much the actions we take that are the problem, it’s the way of thinking that is so inured and embedded - we can’t escape. Bukowski’s point was that you have to stop the physical in order to stop the mental gears from turning too: it has to be a complete shut-down.
Yielding a little to yourself, I think, is the answer. There’s all this and that out there, with the war and billboards and bird flu and the Superbowl and American Idol, all the crap. We feel obligated to care only because these things are out there for us to consume. Crawling into yourself, since that’s all you’ll ever have anyway, is good self-maintenance. It’s like changing your oil or putting on a new layer of paint; something to that effect at least. Unfortunately, “yield” works two ways. “The grind” tend to see it as maximizing the harvest, the yield; not as slowing down and taking stock.
We’re supposed to care about the war and all the people that have died (although someone dies every twelve minutes on the American highway system, do the math) and about bird flu (although Rumsfeld is the largest stockholder in the Tamiflu “miracle drug” company) and whatever the next big thing is on the TV news. There’s an old song that went, “why can’t I walk down the street, free of suggestion?” Bumper stickers and radios blasting, political advertising, t-shirts and sneakers; it’s become impossible.
I think I’d rather go into hiding and recharge my batteries. I think you should too. It’ll lessen the chance your face sets me back halfway when I emerge.

velvet I site

likepilateihaveadog wrote:

I wrote this for my college newspaper...we'll see how they edit it...here goes.



“In Hiding”
By Will Montgomery

Charles Bukowski wrote on a wide variety of subjects, but I’d thought I’d share his strategy of “leisure.” Essentially, Bukowski would go in hiding, locking himself in a dark room for three or four days at a time, only laying in bed. Well, he did allow himself small trips to the bathroom and small amounts of food, but nothing more. He didn’t write or talk or think more than necessary. It was a way to recharge his batteries, he wrote.
On the third or fourth day he would emerge, simply to take a walk outside. The sun and the sounds were the most glorious part of this birthing process, but, he wrote, “the first human face you see will set you back 50%.” That’s still not bad though, Bukowski argued, since most everyone else is perpetually running on empty.
The problem is that, even for bums like me, it’s hard to just disappear for three days at a time. And the general idea of not doing anything at all, not producing or contributing or thinking seems terrible to most of us. That’s why Bukowski called this first human face one “charged with capitalism, ‘the grind;’” that’s what wiped him out. Not just the face itself, but the inability to stop that was behind it.
I don’t really know what I’m doing in making this significant. It seems instinctual to take a break and take a breather, but the other part of our brain kicks in and says, “no, keep going.” And I’m not saying I work like a dog; I’m pretty lazy. But it’s not so much the actions we take that are the problem, it’s the way of thinking that is so inured and embedded - we can’t escape. Bukowski’s point was that you have to stop the physical in order to stop the mental gears from turning too: it has to be a complete shut-down.
Yielding a little to yourself, I think, is the answer. There’s all this and that out there, with the war and billboards and bird flu and the Superbowl and American Idol, all the crap. We feel obligated to care only because these things are out there for us to consume. Crawling into yourself, since that’s all you’ll ever have anyway, is good self-maintenance. It’s like changing your oil or putting on a new layer of paint; something to that effect at least. Unfortunately, “yield” works two ways. “The grind” tend to see it as maximizing the harvest, the yield; not as slowing down and taking stock.
We’re supposed to care about the war and all the people that have died (although someone dies every twelve minutes on the American highway system, do the math) and about bird flu (although Rumsfeld is the largest stockholder in the Tamiflu “miracle drug” company) and whatever the next big thing is on the TV news. There’s an old song that went, “why can’t I walk down the street, free of suggestion?” Bumper stickers and radios blasting, political advertising, t-shirts and sneakers; it’s become impossible.
I think I’d rather go into hiding and recharge my batteries. I think you should too. It’ll lessen the chance your face sets me back halfway when I emerge.

take stock and make omission...

i think it's a pretty clever, straight-forward piece, which is just about ideal for a college newspaper/magazine for my personal taste. good luck with the editing board!:)

EvilToasterElf

It's a nice piece, but you must go to a much higher class institution of learning because this would have bored the crap out of the kids who read my college paper - they weren't very bright though

likepilateihaveadog

EvilToasterElf wrote:

It's a nice piece, but you must go to a much higher class institution of learning because this would have bored the crap out of the kids who read my college paper - they weren't very bright though

well...ETE...thanks very much....yeah, TKAA knows what it's all about, we go to
the same school...

I don't know if he pokes around in here...

i'm fairly drunk at this point...

thanks both for the praise though...

It's not lost on me...

fanch75

YIELD is fucking awesome.

The only criticism I have is that YIELD isn't always capitalized, letter for letter.

likepilateihaveadog

fanch75 wrote:

YIELD is fucking awesome.

The only criticism I have is that YIELD isn't always capitalized, letter for letter.

from a council member...wow, my hands are shaking

Schmakt

hey... that was really cool... In Hiding is, by far, my favorite Stone song...

one of my friends got way into Bukowski a while ago, but I never quite got there. This was really neat to read, and I forwarded what you wrote to him as well. Thanks!

fanch75

this thread makes me wanna drink a natty

rhinomagic

Did Ed ever try this exercise? I was always under the impression that the song was born out of his trying to be silent and still for a few days.

Great song. Nice article. Have fun with the Natty, Fanch.